Sunday Morning

It was early the next morning, when I felt a soft kiss being planted on my forehead. I didn't open my eyes, but I could sense that Jesse's face was right in front of mine. He slightly leant over my body, and held onto one of my hands, as I lied peacefully on my back, under the warmth of the covers.

Then, to my surprise, instead of receiving another kiss, or some sort of affectionate embrace, he slowly let go of my hand and slipped out from the covers. It was then, when I had decided to force my heavy, tired eyes open.

"Where are you going?" I whispered in a muffled, sleepy voice.

"Oh, Querida…" He smiled, sitting back down on the warm spot beside me which he had just departed from. "… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up"

My eyes were fighting with all their might to stay open, and Jesse had noticed my discomfort. He lifted a hand to my face and carefully rubbed my cheek, brushing his thumb across my temple. The warmth from Jesse's hand made my eyes grow heavy, and I relaxed by closing my eyes once more.

"You look so beautiful in the morning…" He whispered, as he moved his hand gently over my forehead, pushing strands of hair from my face.

"Lay down" I moaned in a sleepy voice, as a slight smile tried to form on my mouth.

"Susannah, I would lay with you forever if I could"

I mumbled and twitched my eyes. "And you can't because…?"

"I have to leave now, before someone realises that I've been here all night…" Jesse replied, sighing as he looked down at me.

My head somehow managed to give him a nod… He gave a slight chuckle and pulled my quilt up to my neck, tucking me in at the sides.

"Go back to sleep… It's only 6:30am, and we've got an exciting day ahead of us!" Jesse said, referring to the roller blading activity that we were going to tackle later on.

And with that, he leant down and gave me another kiss, this time on the top of my head. As Jesse stood up, he whispered that he loved me. I would have replied, but I was already falling back into a deep sleep.

The next time that I had opened my eyes, the sun had risen, and was shinning in through the curtains. I rolled over to see what time it was… Ten o clock… Oops, I really did sleep in.

After I had showered and brushed my teeth, I got dressed in a fitted pink tee, my black ¾ length tights, and twisted my hair into a loose, messy bun.

Hmmm, was Jesse up yet? I wondered, as I opened my bedroom door and stepped out into the hallway. There was no harm in checking… Right? I slowly opened the door to Doc's room and peeped inside. Oh, the room was deserted… Damn.

I scanned Jesse's clothes as he sat on the porch steps, tying up his shoelaces. He wore a pair of black, ¾ length cargo shorts and a light green shirt. The shirt was damn good looking on him! The sleeve cuffs were designed so they doubled over, just the perfect length to reveal a little bit of his biceps… And that shade of light green really brang out his perfectly tanned skin. Jesse suddenly caught me starring at his shirt, and grinned as he stood up, heading across the lawn to where I was waiting.

"Do you like the shirt?" Jesse asked as he approached me. "…Or is it a little too… green?"

"Nah, green looks good on you," I said, trying to sound casual without totally giving away that 'drooling' aspect about it…

It was such a beautiful day, the sun was out, the birds were chirping, and there wasn't a single cloud in that bright blue sky… We walked a few blocks down near the park; to where I knew there was a shop that hired out skates to the public.

Once we had hired our gear, we sat down on the concrete wall, which surrounded the water fountain, and started getting ready. Jesse continuously looked over at me, copying and observing where the elbow and knee pads where supposed to be positioned.

"Susannah… What happens if we fall backwards?" Jesse asked, while looking down at the knee pad, and twisting it into place.

"Well, it's probably going to happen…" I said, as I looked over at him. Oh man he made me quiver; but not because of fear… "Anyway, I'm not even thinking that far in advance. I'm more worried about standing up!" I laughed, while rolling my feet on the ground beneath me.

Jesse glanced over at me with a worried look upon his face. So I reached over and took a hold of Jesse's hand.

"Come on, it's not as bad as it looks" I reassured him. "I was only kidding"

"Ok, then what are you waiting for?" He asked, daring me to go first.

"I – I'm waiting for…" My eyes wandered around aimlessly. "Um, you… Yeah, I'm waiting for you!"

"Well, I am ready now" Jesse proclaimed.

"Good"

"Good," He echoed.

I looked down at one of my skates and lifted it up to check out the row of shiny wheels.

"Hmmm…" I moaned, rolling my hand over them, realising how agile and smoothly they seemed to rotate.

"What are you waiting for? … Are you stalling?" Jesse grinned, leaning over to look me in the eyes.

"No! I'm just checking to make sure they work properly!" I sternly demanded, before slamming my foot back down on the ground and watching it slide forwards.

Jesse raised his right eyebrow and slowly started to hoist himself of the concrete wall. Yeah, that's right! You go first! Anyway, what makes you so cocky, you were nervous a minute ago! I thought to myself.

It was rather amusing as Jesse stood there without holding onto anything. He looked really frightened. Then Jesse outstretched his arms a little to give him balance and he slowly, repeat, slowly, rolled forward.

"Oh, you're doing great Jesse!" I cheered a little sarcastically. "Any faster, and you'll become a blur!"

"Susannah! I'm the one who's trying here!" He replied, seeming a little frustrated as he kept his eyes on the ground.

I chuckled to myself, and then decided that I should get off my backside and do something productive.

Ooh, shock horror, I'm still standing! I thought as I stood up on the spot. Without really doing anything, I somehow started to roll forward, heading towards Jesse, who still seemed to be struggling, trying not to make any sudden movements.

"Um, Jesse…" I said slowly, as I realised that he was directly in my path of travel.

But it was too late; it's not like I could just skate around him… I'm kind of an amateur here! So inevitably, I bumped into the back off him, causing him to curse in Spanish.

Luckily there was a patch of grass in front of us, so we were saved... This time! Jesse stepped onto the grass and breathed out heavily as he spun around to pull me onto the grass.

"What were you thinking?" Jesse demanded seriously. "I'm not a tree or a light post, you know" He then lightened up, and gave a little chuckle.

"Hey, I couldn't help it that you were in my way…" I said, casually brushing a few loose strands of hair from my face.

"I was in your way?" Jesse said, before waving an arm around the park. "Look how much space you have… And you claim that I was in your way"

I shrugged my shoulders and giggled. "Well anyway, you're the best looking tree or light post that I've ever seen… If that helps"

Jesse narrowed his eyes at me and let out a breath of laughter. "I don't know how you do it, Susannah"

"Do what? Wiggle my way out of sticky situations?" I said a little flirtatiously.

"Hmm, something like that..." Jesse laughed, while placing his hands on his hips.

Anyway, we skated around on the grass for a while… And received a few weird looks from other skaters, but we didn't care. After a few harsh comments from little children, I could tell that Jesse was starting to feel a little embarrassed. He skated up close to me, and started whispering in my ear about how ridiculous he feels. I held my breath at the closeness of Jesse's lips, and restrained myself from grabbing and kissing him… So after I had gained my senses, we had decided to attempt another go on the concrete.

Jesse had improved considerably, and was actually skating around on the paved concrete. I on the other hand, was still weary and not as confident as I'd like to have been. Don't get me wrong, I was actually skating… Or rolling… I groaned and clung onto a nearby light post as if it was my life support.

"Jesse" I moaned, looking up and realising that he was now skating rather fast, and was circling around the fountain. "How come you're so good at this?" I wailed.

He shrugged and whizzed past me, grinning. "Not everyone has accurate balance"

"I can balance just fine!" I yelled after him, pushing away from the light post.

I'll show him! He is so not going to show off like this! If Jesse can skate, so can I, damn it!

"Stop showing off" I demanded, while trying to catch up to him.

But before I knew it, I was suddenly staring up at the bright blue sky, feeling a throbbing pain in my back. Then I heard someone chuckling, and a familiar face appeared, blocking out the blue sky. Jesse had skated over my body, with each leg either side of my waist.

"Are you alright?" He asked, trying not to let his amusement become too obvious.

"I'm fine" I grimaced up at him.

But my facial features soon changed, as I realised that from looking up, I was getting an interesting point of view. Jesse soon noticed my gawking, so he bent down and took hold of my arms, pulling me up from the ground. My feet immediately rolled from under me… Jesse caught me from under my arm pits and pulled me close to his body.

My eyes slowly scanned up his chest, along his neck, past his lips, and then finally reached his eyes, where I stopped and firmly fixated my gaze. Jesse pulled a few dry leaves out of my messy bun, and wiped a bit of dirt from my cheek.

"I think that this activity may take a bit of time and practise" He smiled, locking his eyes back on mine.

"Yeah…" I agreed without really hearing what he had said. Jesse's eyes had me totally captivated, that nothing could distract me right now.

"But of course, I don't mind spending time with you! Even if it requires shoes with wheels... Which I must add, are a fantastic invention"

It was as if someone had frozen me or something… I hadn't blinked once, and my mouth was starting to get a little dry. Hmmm I wonder what Jesse had just said? …

"Susannah, are you even listening to me?"

Um not really… Release me from your captivating glance, will you? I thought to myself.

Jesse realised that I was totally infatuated at the moment, and was probably lost in some sort of deep thought, so he decided to have a little fun…

"Someone's drooling again…" Jesse chuckled, noticing that I hadn't even flinched at his comment.

No response... Ok, I think I noticed that Jesse's eyebrows had creased, and he seemed a little confused...

"Will you marry me?" He joked; half expecting me to answer or at least respond to that sort of question.

God! If only I wasn't such a dreamer!

Nope, still no response… But I did notice that a disappointed look had washed across his face for a minute…

"Susannah, you have a spider crawling up your shoulder"

"What?" I screamed, immediately returning 'back to earth', and flicking wildly at both of my shoulders.

"Susannah…" He chuckled, while watching me have a heart attack. "Susannah!" Jesse grabbed my flying arms before I lost my balance and pulled me back to him. "I was just playing with you" He laughed.

"What… Why?" I demanded, trying not to fall back into another trance."What were you saying?" I urged, nudging his arm.

Jesse ran his hand through his hair, as the soft breeze slowly made it fall back into its position. "Come on, are we going to skate? Or stand around here all day…"

For some reason, Jesse's attitude seemed to change. He seemed a little peeved or something… As he turned his back to me, and slowly started to skate off, I outstretched my hands, and grabbed onto his shirt.

"Hey, I've got a good idea," I said, causing him to come to a stop. "Mush!" I laughed.

"I beg your pardon?" Jesse asked in a toneless voice.

"Mush" I repeated. "It's what people call out to get the sled dogs moving across the snow…"

"Well, you're going to rip my shirt," He said without looking back at me.

I suddenly thought that maybe that was a bad idea, so I slowly loosened my arms from his shirt.

"Wait… I've got a better idea" He said quickly, startling me a little.

And before I knew it, Jesse was moving my hands around to his waist. He held my hands against his body, and looked back over his shoulder to smile at me. I sighed happily, as we started skating around the park, relying on one another for support.

Everything was great! The wind was blowing through my hair, the sun shone down on my skin, and I was spending this beautiful day by Jesse's side… Literally!

Suddenly, a rock had gotten caught in my wheels, and I immediately stumbled sideways, letting go of Jesse and landing hard on the front hood of a parked vehicle.

"Dios, Susannah! Are you alright?"

I mumbled a couple of swear words, as my body lay helplessly across the warm metal. Jesse rushed (well, carefully skated) over to the car, and lifted me to a standing position. I lolled my head back a little, before his hand grasped the back of my neck.

"Susannah?" I heard him call, as his voice echoed throughout my head.

It wasn't long before I gained my composure, and looked into his deeply concerned eyes. I forced a smile, and nodded slowly to let him know that I wasn't going to slip into a coma or something.

"Oh Crap!" I cursed, as I suddenly recognised what kind of vehicle I had just dented.

"Sssshhh. Don't worry" Jesse said, trying to calm my sudden rush of nervousness. "We will just explain what happened and…"

"Jesse, you don't understand…" I forced quickly, cutting off his sentence. "We've got to get out of here before he comes back!"

"Susannah! We can't just leave…"

"This is Brett's car, Jesse!" I shrieked loudly, while quickly scanning the area frantically.

He was stunned for a few seconds, as he crinkled his eyebrows. "What? Are you sure?"

"Yes!" I blurted out, while starting to pull my skates off. "I think I would remember the car in which I had tried to be seduced in!"

Oops, I hadn't even thought twice about yelling that one out… I didn't even look at Jesse; I just ripped my other skate off, and bolted off across the grass. I didn't even look back, or wait for Jesse to catch up, I just completely bolted!

Jesse had finally caught up to me, and panted heavily beside me, as we both doubled over from exhaustion. He had followed me all the way back to the skate hiring shop. We returned our skating gear without speaking a word, and slipped back into our shoes.

"I'm sorry…" I said softly, pressing my hand to Jesse's shoulder as we cautiously started to walk away from the shop. "I don't know… I mean, I'm sure there is more than one vehicle around, that happens to be the same model as his…"

"Hey, you have nothing to be sorry for" Jesse said, turning my body towards his. "It's ok, I understand!" He insured me, as he rubbed my arms. "If anything… I'm the one who should be sorry…"

"Huh? Jesse, there's nothing you could have done…"

"No, there is…" He questioned, holding me tightly in his arms. "After what you went through that night…"

I quickly raised a hand to his mouth to stop him from talking. "Jesse, please… That's in the past, I forgive you! Anyway, I half expected you to go off like that. I mean, you're just protective of me, and I know –"

My sentence was abruptly cut off, as Jesse kissed my hand, which was placed against his lips. He gently tugged on my arm; wrapping his arm around my back and pulling me close against his body. Before I had a chance to think about the beating of my heart or the warmth of his body… He kissed me!

I wouldn't have guessed that Jesse was the type who would feel comfortable about kissing in public… But hey, I'm not really in a position to complain! Jesse kisses were totally indescribable… There was no desperation from an imposing tongue… He kept his tongue to himself. There was no pressure to try and impress him... I already knew I had accomplished that!

We loved one another, and enjoyed the simple little romantic things… Not that kissing Jesse was little… God No! I just mean that being with Jesse made me feel comfortable, knowing that sex wasn't going to be number-one on his 'to do list'! Well, especially since we were outside in a public place anyway… I'm sure he isn't thinking about that… Why am I thinking about that?

"Let's go get something to eat" He whispered, after he had slowly ended the kiss and gave me a tight hug.

I wrapped my arm securely around his and we started to head off, passing a block off public toilets.

"Oh, I really need to go… I'll be one minute, ok?" Jesse said, untangling his arm from mine and heading over to the dark, brick toilets.

I didn't think anything of it. I mean, he was only going to be a minute… What could possibly happen in a minute, right? A sudden rush fear ran through my body. Something was not right… I felt like I was being watched. Desperately, my head turned and my eyes scanned around the park.

I sensed Brett… Every inch of my body felt as though he was close, watching me…

"Susannah?" I heard a male's voice…

Jesse appeared in front of my body, scaring me… Forcing a scream to escape my trembling mouth.

"Susannah? It's me…" Jesse gently took my hands. "Are you alright?"

My eyes flicked from the faces of the people who were in the park, expecting, but not wanting to find Brett. I scanned each face until I came upon the one, which was right in front of mine…

"Jesse…" I breathed heavily in relief.

Jesse's face was mixed full of concern, angst and even… fear. He seemed so close, but yet so distant.

"I'm scared" I whispered.

Without delay, Jesse threw his arms around me and rubbed his hand against my back, whispering words into my ear.

"I'm gonna kill that bastard! I'm gonna kill him…"

Whoa, did Jesse just swear… In English? He sounds so hot when he swears in English! Even though he is threatening to kill someone...

I hugged him tighter and gave the back of his neck a little squeeze.

"Just you wait…" He whispered softly, yet sternly and full of anger. "I'll teach him a lesson he'll never forget!"